Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Almost Flat Seam Panties

Sometime after Christmas "My bottom hurts" became a regular complaint in our home. As it turned out the problem was that Emily's store bought panties were riding up her bottom and the elastic was rubbing. OUCH! So what is a mama to do but pull out her That Dart Kat fundies pattern and get to work. The only problem here was that I'd made her some smaller ones and she did not like the serged seams even when they were top stitched. After a little pondering I decided to do all the binding the same way I do t-shirt necklines and sew the front seams the way I do exercise pants. I'm guessing most of you could finger all of this out just fine on your own but I did a little tutorial while sewing one pair because if your anything like me sometimes its nice to have pictures even for so called simple things.

After making the crotch according to pattern directions serge both front seams. I use the 3 thread setting. Flatten out both seams as much as possible. Zigzag down the seam right where fabrics join. This almost completely flattens the seam.

Sew the short ends of binding together to form a circle. Sew the binding to the leg whole with right sides together.

This is what the front should look like.

This next part always felt flitzy to me when I started working with knits but if you take your time its not so bad. Wrap the binding around the seam allowance to the wrong side so that the seam allowance is completely enclosed in the binding. Then for undies I zigzag down the middle of the seam on the front. Go slowly to be sure things stay lined up properly. Just line the middle of your foot up with the seam.

Carefully trim any extra fabric from the inside and it should look like this. Do the top and other legs the same way.

Here is a picture of the 3 pairs I finished last night. I get her some more done soon but making panties is not my favorite activity. Emily is pleased though. She has also seen the preview of the new otto and placed an order. Oh well I'm off to trace patterns please let me know if any of this doesn't make seance. It will be a process for me to get used to explaining how I do things. Its nice though. I enjoyed really thinking about each step.